A warning from Chevron Corp over its third-quarterresults followed an Alcoa's outlook for dwindlingaluminum consumption, with both shares falling more than 4percent and dragging the S&P 500 to its fourth straightloss overnight.

The euro was the backfoot due to uncertainty overSpain's bailout prospects, with S&P's two-notch sovereigndowngrade of Spain dampening the mood further.

The International Monetary Fund said this week that the euroarea's debt crisis was a key threat and the risks to globalfinancial stability had risen in the last six months, leavingconfidence "very fragile."

The euro was down 0.1 percent at $1.2856, just above itslowest since Oct. 1 of $1.2835 hit on Wednesday.

"With U.S. stocks falling, and IMF and World Bank raisingalarms about the Chinese growth slowdown, market sentiment isagainst risk - and growth-sensitive or high-yielding currenciesare prone to downside risks," said Yuji Saito, director offoreign exchange at Credit Agricole in Tokyo.

A better-than-expected Australian employment report helpedthe Australian dollar recover some of its earliercommodities-led losses.

Oil prices steadied in early Asian trading after havingfallen in volatile trading overnight. U.S. crude futures which fell over 1 percent were trading flat while Brent futures were up 0.2 percent.

Spot gold was little changed at $1,759.29 an ounce.

Investors will be watching the outcome of an informal meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers in Tokyo onThursday where the euro zone crisis, U.S. fiscal problems and aslowdown in economic growth in China and other emergingcountries are expected to dominate the agenda.